NORRISTOWN — It was one of the most high-profile investigations in Montgomery County in recent memory and the county’s homicide unit has been honored for successfully prosecuting a man who illegally sold a gun to another who used it to kill Plymouth Police Officer Bradley Fox.

First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele; Deputy District Attorney Thomas McGoldrick; Assistant District Attorney Matthew Quigg; Lt. Detective James McGowan; detectives Michael Begley, Paul Bradbury, James Carbo, Mark Minzola, William Mitchell and Todd Richard; and investigative analyst Charles Craig each received a commendation from District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman in recognition of “their outstanding investigation, prosecution and conviction” of Michael Joseph Henry, who confessed to the “straw purchase” of nine guns, one of which was used to kill Fox, a New Hanover resident, in September 2012.

Richard is a former Pottstown detective.

“This investigation and successful prosecution helped give a measure of closure and bring justice to Officer Fox’s family as well as our entire law enforcement community,” Ferman said recently as she honored members of the homicide unit of the detective bureau, adding their “devotion to duty is in the highest tradition of public service.”

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Fox was the first Plymouth police officer ever to die in the line of duty. Fox was killed a day before his 35th birthday and is survived by his wife, Lynsay, and their two children.

In March 2013, Henry, 31, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sale or purchase of firearms and unsworn falsification to authorities in connection with the so-called “straw purchase” incidents that occurred between April and July 2012. A “straw purchase” occurs when someone who is legally allowed to purchase a firearm buys one and then gives it illegally to someone who is not permitted to own a firearm.

In August, Judge Joseph A. Smyth sentenced Henry to 20 to 66 years in state prison for selling nine guns, including a Beretta 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, to convicted felon Andrew Charles Thomas who used it to fatally shoot Fox on Sept. 13, 2012. Thomas, who was on probation for a 2005 forgery arrest in Upper Merion, was not legally permitted to possess firearms.

Steele, McGoldrick and Quigg prosecuted the case.

“The facts of this case are particularly egregious, and the impact that these crimes have had on the Fox family, law enforcement, the community and the nation as a whole is incalculable,” McGoldrick previously argued in court papers.

Henry, authorities alleged, sold the guns to Thomas in order to make money to support his drug addiction.

Henry told investigators that during his friendship with Thomas he discussed with Thomas the possibility of being stopped by police, according to court papers.

“During the conversation, Thomas said that if he was stopped by the police, he would run and that he wasn’t going back to jail,” Carbo wrote in the criminal complaint. “Andrew Thomas told Henry that he ‘wouldn’t go alive’ and that he ‘would shoot a cop.’”

Henry, prosecutors said, made “straw purchases” of nine firearms — seven pistols and two rifles — at gun stores in West Norriton, Montgomery County, and East Pikeland, Chester County, between April and July 2012. Henry then illegally transferred the nine weapons, in exchange for $500 each, to Thomas, 44, of Grasmere Road, Lower Merion.

For each purchase, Henry indicated on the application and record of sale that he purchased the firearm for himself and not for another individual, detectives said. Henry purchased the items for Thomas, “making materially false statements” on the applications and records of sale issued by the Pennsylvania State Police.

On Sept. 13, Thomas fatally shot Fox, a five-year veteran of the Plymouth Police Department, about 5:45 p.m. as Fox pursued Thomas on foot near the Schuylkill River Trail after Thomas fled from a hit-and-run crash on Conshohocken Road. Fox died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Thomas then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide, succumbing to gunshot wounds to the chest, authorities said.

About the Author

Carl Hessler Jr. writes about crime and justice at the Montgomery County Courthouse for The Mercury and 21st Century Media Newspaper’s Greater Philadelphia area publications. A native of Reading, he studied at Penn State University and Kutztown University before graduating from Alvernia University with a degree in communications. He is a recipient of a National Headliner Award and has been honored for his writing by the Keystone Press Association, Philadelphia Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania. Reach the author at chessler@pottsmerc.com
or follow Carl on Twitter: @MontcoCourtNews.